I have a ten gallon tank I'm going to put them in, with a heater and a filter and light. It's an "Aqueon Deluxe Kit Aquarium" and I have gravel as a substrate.

I've been looking all over the internet and trying to read all I can. My stepdad who bought me the tank kit and is helping me out a bit didn't know what cycling was when I brought it up to him. However as far as I can tell it's pretty important isn't it? I'm not very articulate in person and when i tried to bring it up to him I ended up mumbling and throwing out something about ammonia and bacteria and yeah So I don't think he really got it. He just said something like "Put the water conditioner stuff in there and the filter will take care of that."

I somewhat understand cycling but I'm not sure how I'm going to go about it with this tank... From what I've read, the fish I plan to put in there aren't good for cycling and I don't want to get fish I don't want just for that...

Also I rather spare the fish! I know there's fish-less cycling but what method of this is best? Can someone give me simple step by steps? What's a quick way and how long does it normally take?

I don't have any plants right now and I haven't got the cory's yet but I'm eager to rescue my betta from the 1/2 gallon he's in right now...

Thanks

P.S. It's taking us awhile to fill the tank. We've rinsed the gravel and put it in there but he insists we boil all the water and let it cool before we put it in there. We're using tap water.

hi! welcome to the forum! i suggest reading thru this thread. it'll give you day-by-day experience.

i'm also cycling a 10 gallon....but it's a bit of a horror story, it took half a month, turned out i used the wrong kind of ammonia, had to tear it down, clean, re-setup the tank, it sat for another 1.5 months, making no progress.

so i have now torn it all down....again...and i'm going to be doing a "silent cycle" (Info here) which, basically, involves stuffing the tank full of fast growing plants who'll take care of the ammonia levels and prevent spikes while the bacteria grows, with the fish in the tank.

it's up to you what kind of cycling you want to do, but i suggest doing a lot of research! good luck! (also, i'm sure someone with more (better) cycling experiences will pop in here to give their piece, so don't let me scare you away from cycling with my one bad experience)

Don't get me wrong. I'm willing to do it but do I really need to cycle the tank? Everything is brand new so there's no waste and the water has been boiled and has conditioner in it and filter. Also I read that it'd be pointless to try and cycle with one betta (not that I was going to) because they don't make that much waste for a 10 gallon tank so would he make enough waste for enough ammonia to build up and kill him?

For now he would just be in there with the small cory catfish and wouldn't they eat a lot of waste/filth that would make ammonia? which I don't think there'd be much of anyway or do they make a lot of waste?

well, yes, if it's just your betta, then he wouldn't make a whole lotta waste. cories, idk. but i'd assume not. but the problem with not cycling is that you'll have to do 100% water changes every week, which would be a hassle, given that 10 gallons weigh about 100 lbs.

also, i don't think cories eat poo. just a guess, but i mean really, ew. and ammonia is released by the gills through breathing, so you're dealing with different causes here.

also also (haha), since everythings new there won't be any bacteria grown in yet, and that's what makes a tank cycled and lowers the ammonia (along with live plants) by doing constant 100% changes you'll inhibit the bacterias growing, so the tank would never cycle.

i do think you'll want to cycle the tank, just to cut down on the amount of work you'll have to put into water changes. to make life easier for yourself. think if you ever get sick, or are struck by a bout of lazyness, it'll be easier to change 30% (prolly 2-3 gallons) of the water than the whole tank.

You use a gravel-vac, which you can get at all petores ^^ (Heck, my home hardware has one!) it sucks the water out while cleaning the gravel at the same time, and thats how people do water changes. No tipping out the water or anything :)

yea, a gravel vac, or you could use a cup and scoop it out. there're things to start the cycle that you can buy, but most of them don't really work except for the rare occasion...i've heard pretty good things about Dr. Tims from drsfoster&smith's website, but idk if it'd be worth the cost of shipping...

and yea, it'll take a while. mine took 1.5 months and it still wasn't done.

you do need the water tester kit to keep track of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels, so they're a good investment.

Also, another thing to consider is using a dechlorinator that binds ammonia, nitrites and nitrates -- such as AmQuel Plus.

It doesn't destroy the ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, but binds them so they are NOT harmful to fish while still allowing the natural cycling of the tank to occur and so, the bacteria will still grow. If you do use AmQuel Plus, just be sure to buy an ammonia test kit that uses salicylate reagents - FYI the AP freshwater master test is compatible with AmQuel Plus.

Keep in mind though that AmQuel Plus only binds these combounds to a certain ppm level... can't remember exactly what they are.

Here is a great step-by-step article.
Also, another thing to consider is using a dechlorinator that binds ammonia, nitrites and nitrates -- such as AmQuel Plus.

It doesn't destroy the ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, but binds them so they are NOT harmful to fish while still allowing the natural cycling of the tank to occur and so, the bacteria will still grow. If you do use AmQuel Plus, just be sure to buy an ammonia test kit that uses salicylate reagents - FYI the AP freshwater master test is compatible with AmQuel Plus.

Keep in mind though that AmQuel Plus only binds these combounds to a certain ppm level... can't remember exactly what they are.